Wing Man
by lisa316
Summary: When Max goes into heat, Alec helps her in a way she never expected. ML SHIPPER SAFE! I promise...


_Disclaimer: No ownership implied, no profit realized…_

_Wing Man_

Alec had just settled into his favorite barstool to begin his evening of slow drinking and quiet reflection. Or to wait for something exciting to happen; he really wasn't that particular. Since his informal and complete resignation from Manticore, life had a way just of happening to him lately. He was bored, and frustrated because he didn't know what to do to cure the boredom. He lacked a mission. He lacked purpose.

_Logan Cale_, he thought. _Now that guy has purpose. He acts like he's on a mission from God to save every soul in Seattle. _While Alec supposed that was noble in its own way, he was honest enough with himself to admit that he really didn't care about most of the souls in Seattle enough to bother with saving them. If they couldn't save themselves, that was their problem. It wasn't his thing. _Do I need a thing? Maybe I need a thing._

As all these thoughts swirled aimlessly around in his head and he ordered another Scotch, an all too familiar face noticed him and moved gracefully through the crowd to meet him. He smiled when she reached his side. "Hey, Max. Want a drink?" he casually asked. He expected her to say no and go off with friends, but he figured the cordial thing to do would be to offer, and he never really minded her company.

"Hey, Alec. Sure." Alec immediately sensed something was amiss. As Max passed behind him to sit on the empty stool she ran her hand along his shoulders and brushed her body along his back. Although he kept his face impassive, as he was trained to do, Alec was suddenly very, very alert.

He did a silent but thorough analysis of Max. She was wearing tight black leather pants and a red tank top that fit so closely and was cut so low that it left very little up to the imagination. Her golden skin was covered in a sheen of sweat and she had a wild, dazed look in her eyes. She looked like readily available sin. The electricity she was giving off was practically tangible. Alec almost thought he could feel the hot energy radiating off of her. A smirk began to play across his face as he realized what he was dealing with.

"So what are you up to tonight?" she asked, leaning in even closer.

"Oh, well, you know me, Max…Just out looking for trouble."

"Trouble sounds good to me. Should we go out and find some or do we go out and make some of our own?" she didn't so much say it as breathe it into his ear.

She positively reeked of pheromones. Alec was sure that even an ordinary man who lacked his enhanced sense of smell would be able to detect it. He glanced around casually and, sure enough, there were two wolves at the other end of the bar simultaneously staring her down and sizing him up. Men all over the bar were staring at her. He figured a change of location would be a good idea, and soon. Alec knew exactly what he wanted to do with her, and he knew things would be much easier if he could get her alone.

Alec's eyes narrowed slightly and a grin threatened to raise the corners of his mouth. "I know your secret, Max."

"Really? Which one? I have lots and lots of good secrets…" She playfully leaned towards him so he could whisper at her, bringing her top down another notch.

"You're in heat," he challenged, staring directly into her eyes.

"What makes you say that?" she questioned, staring back at him and smirking.

"I can tell," he smiled at her, and then leaned close and murmured in her ear, "I can smell it on you."

At his proximity and intensity and the feel of his breath on her ear, Max shuddered. "And what are you going to do about it?" Her challenge came across as an outright proposition.

"Don't worry…I know exactly what to do about it."

"I thought you might." She practically purred, "Let's get out of here."

In response, Alec shot down the remainder of his Scotch, grabbed his jacket with one arm and her hand with the other, and dragged her willingly towards the exit.

Come on," he said, pulling her outside, "Let's go. Your place. I'll drive," he said, leading her towards her motorcycle.

"Do you really think I'm gonna let you drive my bike?" she questioned with mock indignation.

"I think that tonight you're going to let me do anything that I want to," he replied as he slowly extracted her keys from her front pocket. He took a brief moment to appreciate the sight of Max biting her full lower lip in response to his words and actions.

_God, I hope she doesn't kill me tonight,_ he thought to himself as he straddled her bike and indicated that she should get behind him. Max immediately jumped on the back of the bike and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. As Alec negotiated the short distance to her apartment, she began to run her hands down over his hips and along the top of his thighs, and then slowly worked her way back up to feel along his stomach and chest. Apparently she trusted his enhanced reflexes and reaction time to get her home in one piece despite the distractions. As she began to nuzzle the back of his neck, he decided _Yep. She's definitely going to kill me._

The closer they got to Max's apartment, the more impatient she got. She was groping him and pulling at his clothing, kissing his neck and running her nails across his back. It took actual strength and determination on Alec's part to get them as far as the hallway in front of her door.

Max had already wrestled him out of his jacket and pulled his shirt from the waistband as she fumbled to get the door open. "Come on," she panted as she finally kicked it open and started to drag him inside.

"Wait. I've got a better idea." He figured he would probably need all of his special abilities to pull this one off. Reaching out with a sudden burst of speed he grabbed her, picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. "Let's go," he said as he reached up and spanked her hard, partly to quiet her, partly to distract her from what he was about to do, partly because he figured she had always needed a good smack on the ass, and partly just because he had been wanting to for awhile. He carried her firmly over his shoulder and purposely strode down the hallway.

"Alec?" she questioned, a hint of uncertainty surfacing in her voice. She was too stunned to react immediately, which was what Alec was counting on, and would end up being his saving grace.

"Come on," he said. At the end of the hallway, he opened the storage closet, and before she could react at all, he unceremoniously tossed her in, slammed the door shut, and locked it.

"Alec? ALEC! What are you doing?"

"You'll thank me in the morning, Maxie," he called to her through the doorway.

"Alec! Open the door, Alec! What the Hell is this! I don't know what you think you're playing at, but it's NOT FUNNY! Open the door!"

"Sorry, Maxie, not gonna happen."

"ALEC! DAMNIT! OPEN THIS DOOR NOW! I'M NOT PLAYING AROUND!"

"It's for your own good, Max," he patiently explained to the door.

"Alec! OPEN THIS DOOR NOW, ALEC! LET ME OUT!" Max started kicking at the door in an attempt to break it down. "I swear to God when I get out of here I'm gonna KICK YOUR ASS!"

_You'll kick my ass, huh? Real original, Max_. "Quiet down in there, I'm on the phone!"

"WHAT?!?" BANG! "WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?" BANG! "YOU BETTER OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW, ALEC!" BANG, BANG!

With a small sigh and a slight wince every time to door shook, Alec took out his cell phone and dialed.

"Hello?" Logan answered his phone with an undercurrent of anxiety in his voice. He had been paging Max all day, and she had never gotten back to him. He vacillated back and forth between the notion that she might be in trouble with the more likely explanation that she just didn't feel like talking to him. He was trying to remember which idea should be upsetting him more.

"Hey, Logan! Alec. Whatcha doing?"

"Oh. Hey, Alec. Just working on some stuff. What's up?"

"Well, I'm here with Max…"

"Is she OK?"

"I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GONNA KILL YOU, ALEC!"

"Oh, yeah. She's great. She says 'Hi'. Anyway, I was calling to give you the opportunity to thank me."

"Thank you for what?" he asked warily.

"Well, I was killing time at Crash, having a quiet drink and minding my own business…"

"Uh huh"

"So then who should walk in but Max? Of course, just to be friendly, I offered to buy her a drink. So she sat down and we got to talking, and then I figured it out."

"Figured what out?"

BANG! "ALEC, YOU JUST WAIT TIL I GET THIS DOOR DOWN! YOU'RE DEAD!"

"Well, to make a long story short…"

"Too late."

"To make a long story short, I realized that a particular aspect of her kitty cat DNA was more predominant than usual, if you understand my meaning, and it probably wasn't a good idea for her to be wandering around strange bars with strange men following her around. She even came on to me, if you can believe that."

"What did you do?" All traces of boredom in Logan's voice were now replaced with concern and other underlying emotions that he tried not to let Alec hear. He understood all too clearly now why Max hadn't returned any of his calls.

"I went home with her, of course."

"Is this where I'm supposed to thank you?" He asked with tight control.

BANG! "YOU'RE GOING TO WISH I KILLED YOU, ALEC!"

"Yeah, I went home with her and I locked her up in the storage closet. She's pissed as Hell, by the way."

Logan was silent for a moment as he listened to the muffled sounds of Max kicking the door and screaming death threats and obscenities in the background while another rush of emotions hit him, relief being the most prevalent and gratitude following at a close second.

"So I need you to come on over here with some of those super potent sleeping pills or elephant tranquilizer or whatever it was you used last time to help her get through the night, preferably before she breaks the door down and really does kill me."

BANG! WHEN I GET THIS DOOR DOWN I'M GOING TO USE IT TO BASH YOUR HEAD IN, ALEC!

"I'm on my way," Logan said, already reaching for his keys. "And, Alec…"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks, man."

"No problem, buddy. I've got your back."

Alec closed his phone and leaned against the door with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. If he believed in Karma or any of that other nonsense, he reflected, this might just earn him a few points in the redemption category. He actually felt kind of good about himself. He returned some favors to some friends, made amends for some past transgressions, Hey; maybe he even struck a blow in the battle for true love. What the Hell, right?

Maybe this could be his thing? Or maybe not, he temporized. After a few seconds of soul searching he realized he had no desire to get himself caught up in Max's soap opera on a regular basis, even if it did make him feel warm and fuzzy for a short while. Helping out a friend (Logan was his friend, right?) with his girl every now and then was one thing, but he had no intention of making a career or a crusade out of this or anything else they tried to recruit him for.

And if he was really, really lucky, that door just might stay on its hinges until he was safely out of there.

_Reviews Welcome_.


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